Every year now it seems someone makes the headlines for getting back together for the first time in years to perform together as a unit once more, creating fan nostalgia that sells for bucket loads of money. The idea of reliving the greatest hits from the past for your favourite band is something many hope to experience and in some casss wait many years for.

Some big names in recent years include Take That, Spice Girls, Boyzone, ABBA, Oasis, Five, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Blue and many others.

What are your highlights and who has had the best reunion since their return to the public eye?

Also, if you could pick one band from the past to have a reunion... who would it be and why?

I think Take That managed theirs very well. One of the rare artists/bands I can think of who were actually more successful post-reunion than before.

Most of the bands that reunite do so for the tour and the odd new song. Yet Take That's new material hit quite big and outsold their albums in the 90s.

I think there's a few reasons. They had Gary who was always trusted to write the best stuff for them - it could have gone very different with different material. They had a lot of goodwill from the public. Perhaps it was also timing; paid-for sales were still very strong so people were actually still buying albums.

Take That are the obvious ones here. But I'd actually put a vote in for Steps as well.

When they came back with "Scared of the Dark" in 2017 it was a real moment and it felt like they'd found a way to update their sound but also win a new audience.

OK their singles success may be long behind them but they can still shift albums and tours. I went to see them just up the road from me at Chelmsford Racecourse a couple of years back, and it was honestly one of the best gigs I've been to, they had such a wide audience that it really took me by surprise.

Take That definitely had the most successful reunion.

I think the Sugababes too in the sense they’ve been reunited for over a decade and still going strong.

A Mis Teeq reunion needs to happen!

Steps & Take That have had the success and longevity with their return. They've also had a subsequent musical based on their music (I am hoping for a movie version of Here & Now, as Greatest Days is an awesome movie)

The majority of Steps' singles since reforming would have been top 5 hits back in the day (in my opinion)

I agree that it’s definitely Take That who are the pinnacle of how successful a reunion can possibly be! They managed to add numerous classic singles to their catalogue, some of which probably get a better crowd reception than some of their 90s hits. Their 00s albums outsold their 90s albums! Numerous stadium and arena tours, and they’re still a big touring act now, even though they’ve only been a three piece for the past decade. (By the way, it’s wild that this year marks 20 years since they reunited!!).

Steps have also done very well. Doubling the size of their discography, arena tours, new albums charting at #2 and #1, and now there’s even a well received musical. I think unlike Take That, it’s still the hey day material that really connects with their casual audience, the new music didn’t really get the opportunity to connect on that level, but it has been embraced by their hardcore fans.

Plenty of other reunions have been successful, but are more heavily centred around nostalgia and can ultimately be rather brief. I’d have loved for Spice Girls to “do a Take That” but sadly not.

I'd have to go for Steps as well. Whilst their 2011/2012 reunion seemed like Sony cashing in on the name with no effort whatsoever, their 2017 comeback was completely different. So much time and effort was put into making a new album. Managing to mature, but giving the fans music that still fit the Steps repertoire. And then their stuff on BMG has (so far) a great consistency of great pop moments. Scared Of The Dark, Neon Blue, Something In Your Eyes, Heartbreak In The City sit so well between classic hits like It's The Way You Make Me Feel and Stomp.

Obviously Take That take the crown for sales/success, but I've never been a fan of their MOR tracks. I do love "Up All Night", and "Said It All" though.❤️

The 2011 Steps reunion was definitely a reality TV moment. It showed how well a reunion show like that can be done and the table scenes were epic

Sad factors lead to the S Club reunion feeling very short hyped last year, but the circumstances as to why are plainly known by all and tragic loss of Paul.

I wonder if The Saturdays would consider a reunion next?

Re: S Club, they did previously reunite for a tour in 2015 but didn't release anything new.

The Saturdays seem like they parted on good terms but feel life has generally gotten in the way.

I personally couldn’t see a successful The Saturdays reunion besides maybe a one-off tour. They never felt that big in the first place.

I would LOVE a 5-piece Spice Girls reunion but Victoria is releasing a Netflix documentary this year to help her shed her Spice Girls image in the US and to raise her profile as a fashion designer in her own right so I can’t see that happening for another decade if ever lol. They could easily have a hugely successful reunion documentary though.

57 minutes ago, -Jay- said:

Steps have also done very well. Doubling the size of their discography, arena tours, new albums charting at #2 and #1, and now there’s even a well received musical. I think unlike Take That, it’s still the hey day material that really connects with their casual audience, the new music didn’t really get the opportunity to connect on that level, but it has been embraced by their hardcore fans.

I would say 'Scared of the Dark' has gone on to be just as recognisable/known as some of their bigger hits from back in the day.

For the Here & Now musical, it was nice to see a good mix of old and new Steps songs. There is definitely an audience there for the newer material

Take That immediately sprung to mind when reading the thread title as well.

'Patience' was a strong comeback song and the Beautiful World material in general felt like a well-pitched evolution a decade after their boyband hits. This was followed by 'Rule The World' - a huge, high quality moment to tide them over between eras. Then they released The Circus and I mostly remember the visuals of the accompanying tour being talked about at the time and well received. So they now had two successful 4-piece man-band eras in the bag and then stepped it up a notch with a five-piece Robbie comeback!

Progress was their best and most exciting period for me, I enjoyed the shift into more of an electro-pop sound and was lucky enough to go to the accompanying tour, also supported by the Pet Shop Boys. I was a teenager so went with my family and the ticket buying process was carnage for my dad... that really demonstrated how crazy the demand was for me. Then the group of course lost Robbie again and also Jason, but still managed to bag a #1 single as a 3-piece.

Since then it's more difficult for them to keep up in the streaming era, but as mentioned they're still touring, plus they shifted 100k+ first week album units as recently as late 2023 and that Robin Schulz remix of 'Greatest Day' prominently features in Anora, which just won the Oscar for Best Picture, so not bad going! Their sustained comeback success has been really impressive.

Yeah, it's difficult to see past Take That when it comes to successful reunions... especially as they even got Robbie on board for a while.

There are acts that have got back together and appear to be making a living out of it, but they are doing it on their terms and it is all a little low-key and fan-based more than anything.

Steps are a good shout as well.

It would seem though that reunions are usually just for a quick cash-in, last a few months for a tour and a few tv appearances and then the members go back off to the life they were living before someone had the idea to reform.

Having watched the Boyzone documentary, I do wonder if they will tour again soon... but how they would get Mikey back in the band when he didn't even join the others for a pint in the pub is a push.

Take That are the obvious answer and definitely the best example of how to master a comeback, in my view. It's impressive how much commercial success they achieved not just upon their return, but for years after, even the amount of week 1 sales they achieved with their latest album is a testament to their continued impact, even if the album had little longevity.

Steps are another great shout for releasing even better music post-reunion than they did first time around (for me), and, quality-wise, All Saints are up there. Red Flag is their best album for me!

Girls Aloud mastered the reunion tour to a fine art, The Girls Aloud Show couldn't have been more perfect if it tried. I've adored Sugababes proving themselves time and time again, but I'm ready for some new music - The Lost Tapes is one of their best albums, but even those songs were pretty old by the time they came out. When the Rain Comes was a fantastic indicator of what they can bring in the 2020s, so I'd love to hear more at long last!

I loved both S Club reunion tours, the most recent one was better despite the sad circumstances in the run-up to it. The setlist was much tighter. Unfortunately I'm not sure they're collectively invested in the group enough to really make it a thing (plus the lingering Simon Fuller can't be helping). Spice Girls are in a similar boat I guess, with a couple of reunion tours but little commitment to sticking together and releasing new music, but I loved their 2019 reunion in particular.

For me it's Take That (2000-2009) and ABBA (2010 onwards).

Take That has much of the best material in later albums IMO (and also Progress with all five) while ABBA's importance in pop music was matched by the success of their Voyage live shows in many degrees.

Edited March 5Mar 5 by AllStarBySmashMouth

Take That is the blueprint, and I doubt it will ever be bettered (in the UK market). A teen pop band who were HUGE but coming back after a decade to even greater success and critically acclaimed singles and albums, including several all-time pop classics to join the ones they had amassed in a different generation completely? Unheard of. They felt untouchable from 2006-2009 in the first place and then the Robbie return took it full circle and with a fantastic album to boot; the only thing that went wrong is that The Flood somehow missed No.1. If they'd called it a day again after that album/tour then that would have left quite a huge lasting legacy. But the albums since have really diluted the memory a bit of just how big that five year period was for them. Though you can't begrudge Gary, Mark and Howard for carrying on with it as their tours are still massive.

18 hours ago, JosephBoone said:

Take That are the obvious answer and definitely the best example of how to master a comeback, in my view. It's impressive how much commercial success they achieved not just upon their return, but for years after, even the amount of week 1 sales they achieved with their latest album is a testament to their continued impact, even if the album had little longevity.

Steps are another great shout for releasing even better music post-reunion than they did first time around (for me), and, quality-wise, All Saints are up there. Red Flag is their best album for me!

Girls Aloud mastered the reunion tour to a fine art, The Girls Aloud Show couldn't have been more perfect if it tried. I've adored Sugababes proving themselves time and time again, but I'm ready for some new music - The Lost Tapes is one of their best albums, but even those songs were pretty old by the time they came out. When the Rain Comes was a fantastic indicator of what they can bring in the 2020s, so I'd love to hear more at long last!

I loved both S Club reunion tours, the most recent one was better despite the sad circumstances in the run-up to it. The setlist was much tighter. Unfortunately I'm not sure they're collectively invested in the group enough to really make it a thing (plus the lingering Simon Fuller can't be helping). Spice Girls are in a similar boat I guess, with a couple of reunion tours but little commitment to sticking together and releasing new music, but I loved their 2019 reunion in particular.

All Saints are a good shout quality-wise - 'One Strike' just came on shuffle and still sounds really good over 9 (!) years later. Gary Barlow has been mentioned as a secret weapon for Take That and similarly they have a strong songwriter in Shaznay Lewis.

Also agree that The Girls Aloud Show was well handled, with a strong setlist and the tributes to Sarah were just the right balance of emotional and celebratory. I wish I caught them as a 5-piece but this was the next best thing and felt like a childhood dream come true.

It's been largely forgotten and not on the scale of Take That's but Blondie coming back with Maria after 15 years away was pretty surprising and rather successful.